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Irish Daily Mirror
01-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Magnificent - Sam Prendergast vs Fin Smith - on the Eve of Lions selection
Sam Prendergast and Fin Smith will come head to head at the Aviva tomorrow in the most anticipated one-against-one on an Irish rugby pitch - two 22 year-olds missed facing off against each other directly in the 2025 Six Nations game at the Aviva last February as the Leinster tyro started and the Northampton youngster was on the this time, it's a mano-a-mano in a Champions League semi-final just five days ahead of the big rugby reveal of the year - Lions squad selection next Thursday."Sammy's come a long way," says James Lowe and he is not kidding, his taking the no10 shirt against Dragons in Leinster's first game this season was just his seventh start for the club."It's been awesome to see him flourish and then it's probably coincided with how we're trying to play the game and he's a magician half the time," says Lowe."Some of the crazy stuff he hit a spiral and, like, no-one's even wanting him to hit a spiral and all of a sudden he'll go against the grain and pin one in the corner."He does it at training, you can tell that he's played GAA growing up because of his ability to even kick the ball up to himself, he just tries things and they come off because he actually does it every day at training."It's so annoying because you just don't know what's going to happen, but then there's a brilliance in that as well so it's probably a mash together of this season so far, deep breath, Prendergast has made his first European start, his first Ireland start, first Six Nations start and could be making a Lions debut before it ends."Yeah, his progress is kind of a beautiful thing to watch. You see every year there's someone coming through or a group of people coming through and you hope that they figure it out and some people do and some people don't and that's the unfortunate nature of the beast. "And Sammy's figured it out. He is 22 and he has a massive influence on a game."It was November there or thereabouts, he got some good minutes and then going into the Six Nations, obviously it was him and Jack (Crowley) going at it head to head and he took his opportunity."Those two worked well together during the Six Nations and Sammy has come back here and he's absolutely flourished, he has grabbed the bull by the horns and he's starting to tell people what to do, which is always nice to see in a young fella."Lowe also revealed England, who had started Marcus Smith at out-half, thrived in that Six Nations."I remember against England and he said everyone was just chirping at him the whole time, just trying to get into his head, and he's pretty cool, calm and collected."At half-time he was like, 'Man, those they're all just yelling at me the whole time, what am I meant to do?'."But he took it in his stride and played well that Six Nations, even these last two European games against Quins and Glasgow, he was like, 'Why does everyone just yell at me the whole time?'"Obviously you see a young no10 and you want to get in his head, you want to get after him and put him under as much pressure as you can but he's stood up to it so far so hopefully he can keep on going."NB: Last February, Ireland, with Prendergast on the field for 58 minutes beat England 13-10 in that time; England with Fin Smith on the field and Marcus Smith moved to full back for the last 16 minutes beat Ireland 7-12. (Tadhg Beirne scored a converted try in the time in between) Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.
BBC News
25-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Scotland game key for Ireland World Cup 'momentum'
Niamh O'Dowd says victory over Scotland in Saturday's final Women's Six Nations match can give Ireland momentum heading into the World travel to Edinburgh looking to secure third place in the standings behind England and France. Scott Bemand's side have won in Italy and Wales to end their run of four years without an away victory in the Six Nations."This weekend is a really good opportunity to hopefully finish the campaign with some momentum," said prop O'Dowd, who returns to the starting line-up after missing last weekend's win in Wales because of a shoulder injury."We've had two good wins this year. Even last weekend, we put 40 points on Wales and there were still areas we definitely could have sharpened up."There is quite a vast difference from two years ago [when Ireland lost 31-5 to Wales and 36-10 in Scotland] and we'll be hoping to put some points on them away from home this time as well."After the Six Nations, Ireland will prepare for the World Cup with warm-up fixtures at home to Scotland and Canada in Irish will then face New Zealand, Spain and Japan in pool three when the World Cup gets under way later that month. "Everyone will then get out of here, get back to their friends and families for a while for a break," added O'Dowd, 25."We've then a bit of remote training, come back in June and hit the ground running."
BBC News
19-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ireland will not 'take Wales lightly' - O'Brien
Women's Six Nations: Wales v IrelandVenue: Rodney Parade Date: Sunday, 20 April Kick-off: 15:00 BSTCoverage: Watch on BBC One Wales, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport online, listen on BBC Sounds, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru Ireland fly-half Dannah O'Brien said that her side are "not going to take Wales lightly" in their Women's Six Nations meeting at Rodney Bemand's side are third in the table with one win from three games, while Wales are hoping for their first victory under new head coach Sean Lynn after defeats by Scotland, England and Irish won last year's meeting 36-5 in Cork, but O'Brien believes both sides have made massive strides since that game."Wales have a new head coach in, and they are a team that are continuously growing, and travelling away from home is a challenge, so we need to bring our game both sides of the ball," she said."We have come up another level and we're not going to take Wales lightly; they have progressed hugely in the Six Nations."The 21-year-old says that the Ireland squad are familiar with many of the Welsh players having come up against them in the Celtic Challenge."We know what they're about, they're a power team, they have a difficult maul, and you can't go round them," she explained."They're a good physical team and we know it's not going to be an easy game."O'Brien also hopes that Ireland can repeat elements from their last away performance, a 54-12 victory against Italy, in Newport on Sunday."Italy was a good example of us as a backline being more ambitious and pulling the trigger early in the game."You can't do that without a good pack so we want to grow our confidence as a backline and proving we can score multiple tries out wide."
BBC News
12-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Matching England 'possible' for improving Ireland
Ireland head coach Scott Bemand believes his side can match England in the future despite Saturday's 49-5 defeat in the Six being on the receiving end of a record defeat 12 months ago, Ireland competed and frustrated England in the first half, trailing 7-5 in Cork at half-time after a late try for the Red England, who have won six Six Nations titles in a row, were rampant in the second half and scored seven tries after the restart."We know we're not perfect yet. We know we're writing the story that we're trying to grow and trying to close gaps on England and France," Bemand told BBC Sport."There's bits to go to close on those top two but we'll keep going at it and we believe it is possible." Ireland 'disciplined' in first half Ireland had shocked rugby heavyweights New Zealand in the autumn in WXV1 and were hopeful of making progress against England, although few believed they could win. However, Amee-Leigh Costigan's try gave Ireland a platform to build on and some ferocious defence kept England at bay. The tournament favourites finally got on the board after Aoife Dalton had strayed in front of the impressive Dannah O'Brien's kick and England capitalised from the penalty to hold a slender lead at one area of success in the first half was their scrum, and that continued dominance at the set piece saw prop Niamh O'Dowd set to the sin bin soon after the there, England went through the gears and put the game out of sight and Ireland wilted as their hopes of a shock victory drifted away."It wasn't perfect today but hopefully people will see the level of commitment that goes into it and commitment to what the girls are trying to achieve," added Bemand."We had to absorb a little bit of pressure in the first half and there was a little bit of set piece pressure. "It's a game we could have been winning at half-time. There were two kick errors, and we were suddenly trapped in our own 22 and they get a score. "Until that point, we had defended well, we were sensible, smart and we attacked the ball at the right times. "We had put pressure on the opposition, and we were pretty disciplined with what we were trying to do." Bemand added "there was a cost to that" defence as Ireland tired as the game progressed."We started to pick up a couple of errors and we picked up the yellow card, and we never really recovered from that."England are a good team. They have some athletes and they are a well put together unit. We knew that to stay in it as long as we did, that's a step forward from what it was last year."Ireland will look to bounce back against Wales at Rodney Parade in their fourth fixture as Bemand's side look to lock in a third-place finish for a second consecutive Six Nations."We'll feel pride but it's not where we want to be. We understand there are a few layers we have to get through to get to that [level of England and France]. "We still don't want to turn up and be valiant losers. We've got two more games in this Six Nations that we can come out of having done something special. "We hadn't won away since 2021, but we stuck 50 points on the Italians and it's a massive opportunity to show we can learn fast."
BBC News
11-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Wales forward Davies signs new Ospreys deal
Versatile Wales forward Rhys Davies has signed a new deal to extend his stay with who can operate in the second row and back row, missed nine months of action due to a knee injury, but has been a pivotal figure for the Swansea-based region of his new deal, Davies said: "It's great for me to be continuing my career at my hometown club. "A lot of my best mates are here, some that I have grown up playing with, and I feel grateful to be sharing this experience with them."I had a long time out with the injury I had, but having the support of the boys, the staff at the Ospreys and my family helped me massively in getting back out onto the pitch. "The next stage for me now is to keep putting in the hard work and helping to push the club back to where it should be. "This group is capable of doing something special, we all play for each other and that shows on a gameday." Davies impressed as he scored a try during Ospreys' impressive 36-14 triumph over Scarlets in the last-16 of the European Challenge Cup last has featured 69 times for Ospreys and made his international debut for Wales against Scotland in the 2023 Six Nations."I think I can speak for everyone at the club, and our supporters, when I say how happy we are that Rhys has committed his future to the Ospreys," said their head coach Mark Jones of the three-cap Wales forward."He had a tough time out with injury, but he was incredible on his return last time out. "That personified the work he's done behind the scenes to get back, and the work of our medical and strength and conditioning team."Rhys is a real difference maker for us, whether it's at set piece time, or in the loose, and he showed that on the weekend. "We're excited to see how he builds on that and by what the future holds with Rhys in an Ospreys jersey."
